Boeing expects Indian, South Asian airlines to add over 2,800 jets in next 20 years

By Abhijith Ganapavaram

(Reuters) - Boeing said on Thursday it expects Indian and South Asian airlines will add 2,835 commercial aircraft to their fleet over the next 20 years, a four-fold increase over current levels, as a rising middle class and healthy economic growth spur travel.

The U.S. planemaker's previous rolling 20-year market forecast, issued last year, was for 2,705 jets.

"People will have greater access to air travel, and the region's airlines will require a modern fuel-efficient fleet to meet increased demand over the next two decades," said Ashwin Naidu, Boeing's managing director of commercial marketing for India and South Asia.

The planemaker estimated in the closely-watched forecast that carriers in the two regions will take delivery of 2,445 single-aisle aircraft, representing roughly nine out of ten deliveries, while widebody fleet size will quadruple after adding 370 aircraft.

It also expects the region's air traffic will grow more than 7% annually through 2043.

India is the third-largest domestic aviation market in the world after the U.S. and China and it is also the fastest-growing market, with IndiGo and Air India the top two airlines.

Indian airlines have about 1,800 aircraft on order with global planemakers and are scheduled to take delivery of 130 jets this year, according to data from UK-based Cirium Ascend.

However, airlines worldwide are struggling to procure jets on time as supply chain issues pressure production at Boeing and Airbus.

Boeing's deliveries dropped in 2024 to the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic in part due to a crippling strike, but the planemaker said last month it was making progress on increasing plane production. Airbus, meanwhile, fell fractionally short of its 2024 target.

The Indian aviation industry also faces challenges such as currency pressures, jet fuel price volatility, lower airfares than the global average and an imbalance in long-haul market share compared to foreign carriers, Boeing added on Thursday.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)